AMC's Walking Dead franchise has launched a lot of spinoffs throughout its near-two-decade run, but Tales of the Walking Dead might just be the most forgotten of them all. That's an odd thing to say considering that it was initially announced as one of the first offshoots set to come after the original series concluded but the franchise's focus on crafting sequels to the mothership meant that it was thrown to the wayside.
Tales was unlike any of the other spinoffs in that it was designed as an anthology series, with each episode telling a different story within the harsh realities of the TWD Universe's apocalypse. This allowed it to feature a multitude of new and exciting characters while also featuring one or two familiar faces from the franchise, showcasing different timelines within the apocalypse itself.
Although it was a concept full of potential, it never returned for a second season. AMC's Chief Content Officer of The Walking Dead Universe, Scott M. Gimple, has since confirmed that there are no plans for anymore seasons (for the time being at least). Here's why.
An anthology TWD series was more difficult to make
While part of Tales of the Walking Dead's allure was its unique nature as an anthology series, that also made it more difficult to produce than any of the other TWD spinoffs. After all, each installment is its own self-contained adventure, essentially functioning as a mini movie, and that means that each one of them would require their own storylines, cast, writers and sets.
Scott Gimple confirmed that this more ambitious approach makes it more difficult to bring the show back for another season, telling The Direct:
"It's a more challenging show because of the variety... because you're starting at zero every episode. So that's one thing that's sort of slowing it down a little bit."
It's true; the very thing that made Tales so unique is also what prevents it from continuing on. If the powers-that-be had to reset every episode, you can see why that would be hard to maintain considering the franchise was already focusing on building out the TWD Universe with big-budget spinoffs designed to focus on characters from the original show.
The post-Walking Dead era was all about sequels
There's a sad irony in the fact that Tales of the Walking Dead was one of the first spinoffs announced when it was revealed that The Walking Dead would be ending with its 11th season. As a TWD anthology series was something that fans had longed to see for many years, it seemed like it might be the leader of a new TWD Universe. But that wasn't the case, as it actually ended up premiering before its parent series wrapped up. As a result of that, it ended up joining Fear The Walking Dead and World Beyond as part of the original wave of TWD spinoffs - an era that essentially ended with the main show.
The TWD Universe's new era came with three new spinoffs. All three of them were incredibly different but they had one thing in common: They were led by stars of the original series. Dead City featured Lauren Cohan's Maggie Rhee and Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan, Daryl Dixon of course featured Norman Reedus' titular warrior and Melissa McBride as the badass survivor Carol Peletier, and The Ones Who Live starred Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes and Danai Gurira's Michonne.
The franchise's post-Walking Dead era has become all about telling shorter, higher-scale sequel stories in the lives of some of the franchise's most beloved characters. It allows characters like Daryl and Carol to experience France, London, and Spain, Maggie and Negan to introduce us to the apocalypse's version of New York City, and Rick and Michonne to finally get their happy ending. Somewhere along the line, AMC decided to reinvest in the franchise's most beloved characters instead of telling new stories. And, honestly, given that it's been a successful way to allow the franchise to maintain momentum when only a fraction of its largest audience is still watching, you can't fault them for that.
Although Fear carried on beyond the original show, it was also announced that it would end shortly after it, officially bringing an end to the TWD's more TV-presented spinoffs and paving the way for the trilogy of more cinematic, larger-scale ones that are more directly connected to The Walking Dead itself. That meant that, even though Tales had just aired one season, there was no room for it in the franchise's newer focus.
The Tales concept was supposed to live on in another spinoff
Although AMC had no more plans for Tales of the Walking Dead, there were plans to revive the concept in a short-form spinoff series titles More Tales From The Walking Dead Universe. Although it was never explained how it would differ from its predecessor, the belief was that they would have had shorter episodes, making them more easily digestible - much like the Fear The Walking Dead webisodes that were released as companions to that series.
There is just one problem: It's been years since there has been any significant updates on this one. AMC ordered it back in April 2023, confirming that Scott Gimple would be developing it, but ever since the new spinoffs took center stage that summer, More Tales hasn't been referenced. And that has understandably led fans to assume that the concept has been dropped altogether.
Even when it was confirmed that Daryl Dixon would end with its fourth season, it was widely regarded that this would leave just Dead City as the only current project in the TWD Universe at the time (The Ones Who Live was a miniseries so it only had one season). Nobody mentioned the supposedly in-development short-form series.
And with that, it looks like Tales and indeed More Tales are on the shelf for the foreseeable. Whether or not they rise again remains to be seen.